Is His Gun-Control Concurrence Justice Thomas’s Finest Hour?

Down in our nation’s capital, the day belongs to a lot of people: To retiring Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens, who Monday capped his lengthy career on the court; to Elena Kagan, who survived her first day of Senatorial grilling; to Robert Byrd, an institution within the institution, who died on Monday at age 92.

But in the mind of some law professors and Supreme Court watchers, the day belonged to Justice Clarence Thomas, for his concurring opinion in McDonald v. Chicago. (Click here for the opinion; here for Nathan Koppel’s writeup in the WSJ; here for Adam Liptak’s treatment in the NYT.)

Understanding why requires us to back up just a bit.

In the McDonald case, the justices were asked by the plaintiffs to strike down Chicago’s gun-control ordinance as a violation of the Second Amendment to the Constitution.

In order to do so, the justices would have to make two maneuvers. Of course, they’d have to rule . . .